ON THE INFLUENCE OF SPIKE SHAPE AT SUPERSONIC FLOW PAST BLUNT BODIES

In order to eliminate the appearance of a strong shock wave at a supersonic flight of a missile, which considerably increases the drag during its flight through the air, a spike is mounted on its nose. Presented paper offers the results of an experimental analysis of the influence of the spike's shape on the aerodynamic coefficients (drag, lift and pitching moment coefficient, as well as the location of the center of pressure) at supersonic flow past blunt-nosed body. The experiment was carried out in a wind tunnel, for one value of Mach and Reynolds numbers, and for one value of the angles of attack, α = 2 o . For the body without spike, and with four different spike shapes, the aerodynamic forces and moment were measured. Using only the photos obtained by Schlieren visualization of the flow, the paper proposes a criterion of estimating the aerodynamic effect of the spike shape. The best spike shape from the experimental set of spikes, selected by the measurement of the aerodynamic coefficients, coincided with this qualitative criterion.